Delgado Orellana, Ayelen Aylien; (2025) Forest Clearance, Wood Resource Use and the Spread of Farming in Southern Chile (400-1882 CE). Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Despite of the long occupation history and archaeological evidence of the temperate forest of Southern Chile (36°S - 42°S), it is commonly assumed that major landscape and forest transformation occurred only after the European colonization (1550 CE). While environmental history and ecological data indicate that the vegetation of Southern Chile was shaped by anthropic action over centuries, there is still scarce data regarding woodland burning during the pre-Hispanic periods, and little is known about the forest landscape and its clearance for cultivation and inhabitation. This dissertation uses an archaeobotanical approach focused on both human exploitation of the environment and changes to forest composition during the Early and Late Ceramic Periods, until the Historic Republican Period (400-1882 CE). In geographical terms, the studied sites are located in the Araucanía and Biobío regions, which corresponds to what the Spaniards called the Arauco Province. In cultural terms, the area was described as a well populated land in the early written testimonies (1550-1600 CE), and today these are the regions with the highest percentage of indigenous Mapuche people. The wood charcoal results indicate a mosaic of woody plants around the sites that does not represent old growth forest, but rather a combination of species indicative of different stages of the native forest succession, implying human shaping of the vegetation in prehistory.

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